Anyone who has spent time hunting ruffed grouse knows that this bird presents one of the most difficult challenges for any gun dog. Extremely wary; given to early, explosive flushes; and running ahead of the hunter, grouse routinely shame all but the best of bird dogs. But it is to dogs capable of handling such challenges that Dick Weaver has devoted his life and career.

  

Here, he not only offers invaluable training tips but shares his hunting experiences, for Dick is a hunter’s professional, a man who believes the best way to train a grouse dog- particularly one of his setters- is to hunt him or her on wild birds. Grouse Dogs represents a rare opportunity for the serious upland hunter to go afield with one of the nation’s top trainers and to experience the thrill of walking up behind such dogs as Dick’s Rose and Amber.

 

  RICHARD WEAVER was introduced to pointing dogs and grouse hunting at the age of twenty-two, and he immediately immersed himself in the training and breeding of gun dogs. In the past thirty-plus years, he has trained more than a thousand gun dogs and has presented seminars on obedience, field work, nutrition, and behavioral problems. Currently, Weaver is focused on developing dual-type (show/field) English setters for his personal use and for private clients.

 

 His setters share his home and his thirteen acres southwest of Chambersburg in south-central Pennsylvania, where they are within ninety minutes of grouse coverts in no fewer than six counties.